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The Supreme Court of Oklahoma: Excalibur and Cherwell breathe life into an outdated IT system

BACKGROUND:The Supreme Court of Oklahoma serves as the judicial backbone for the state’s 77 counties and resides in the capitol of Oklahoma City. Aside from hearing cases, the court also administers the state’s entire judicial system and establishes rules of operations for the state’s other courts. The justices are responsible for governing the conduct of attorneys and helping citizens understand the workings of the court.

PROBLEM:The Supreme Court of Oklahoma serves as the IT hub for all county courts and supports more than 5,000 users across the state. All IT-related incidents, inquiries and requests are directed here. These can include:

All technical support issues across the Oklahoma judicial system come through the IT team at the Supreme Court, but the homegrown system in place was 15 years old and hadn’t adapted to modern technology. With an outdated system, the court was unable to effectively track incidents and follow up as necessary. This led to a general lack of efficiency and organization when it came to addressing the IT concerns of the Oklahoma judicial system.

Because of how ineffective their in-house system had become, the Oklahoma Supreme Court knew it was time to get some outside help – but they didn’t know where to start. After following a formal bidding process, they selected a solution offered by Cherwell and implemented with the help of Excalibur Data Systems.

SOLUTION:The Supreme Court of Oklahoma needed a partner who understood they needed specialized help and to breathe life into the solution; Excalibur Data Systems did just that. Excalibur collaborated with the Supreme Court of Oklahoma to get an extensive idea of the problems they were facing and worked together on a road map to reach their IT goals. Ultimately, Excalibur Data Systems deployed the Cherwell software system across the state and trained the court on how to configure the application on their own.

RESULTS:By working with a partner to implement a system from start to finish and give them the tools to fully utilize Cherwell, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma saw an immediate return on investment. The newly streamlined technical support system created organization among the Oklahoma judicial system’s 5,000 users, and the versatile Cherwell application gave the court space to grow in ways that weren’t possible within the constraints of their original system.

FUTURE:Soon after the Cherwell software system was in place, the court made further improvements to the new system by implementing an electronic signature portal, and is currently working on a self-service portal as well. Because of the training, guidance and support the court received from Excalibur, they are able to manipulate the application in ways that benefit them. As for other IT-related projects that may come around, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma remarked, “We wouldn’t think of working with anyone other than Excalibur Data Systems.”

• Server issues

• Problems with Internet, Ethernet or Network

• Software questions

• Desktop and desktop environment issues

We consider Excalibur and Cherwell to be on our team - they’re not vendors, they’re partners. We’re successful together.

Shannon SingletonTechnical Support Services Mgr.